Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Could someone remind me how we got stuck on the side of a mountain, again?" Jackee rubbed at the bridge of her nose, her free hand resting on her hip.

"Uh, we're bad with maps...?" You tried, shrugging your shoulders a little. The fur lining your jacket gently brushed against your cheeks, making you shiver.

"It's a fucking mountain! It's just a big damn circle! There's nothing to get lost on!" She yelled, throwing her hands up in despair.

"Yeah, excluding all the effing trees and boulders," Cayann replied, wildly gesturing at her surroundings. She started pacing, her arms pointed at the hole she was walking towards. "And don't forget the giant gaping holes! Who'd want to forget about those? Certainly not me!" She turned to face Jackee, when she was suddenly falling, and your brain could barely comprehend the events that came soon after.

You found yourself in a clusterfuck of bodies running towards the hole, a chorus of screams cutting through the air. What followed was the feeling of wind rushing around you, and a sudden sharp pain, before everything started to fade away.

The last thought that entered your mind was one of horror. It was one of sheer hatred that you could be so... forgetful and idiotic. The reason everything felt wrong... Ebott was where people went and never returned from.

And you, god, you didn't expect yourself to return from it either. And as a matter of fact any of these wonderful, amazing people who didn't deserve this at all.

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"I think it's safe to say we're going to die here," Koy called out, before starting to lie on the ground. Sharing a glance with Neko, you slowly walked towards her. "Might as well just stay here, and wait for the cold embrace of death."

Clearing your throat a little, you tried to mimic Koy's voice. "'Take me death, for what am I but a slave to the labor of life? After all, in the grand scheme of things, we were all born to die. What is it to give in earlier then we are doomed, beating the race that we're all destined to finish? What's the harm in getting a greater ranking in the unavoidable?' Seriously Koy? We're not getting out of here with that attitude," You sighed, crouching down near her head before quietly adding on to your statement. "And I don't think you're gonna enjoy starving to death, and literally dying of boredom."

"Gray that was the most poetic thing I've ever heard" Cayann called out.

"Oh my god Gray." Neko mumbled, failing to suppress a laugh.

"Gray are you serious?" Jackee quipped, rolling her eyes. "I think Koy and Gray have both lost it."

“Hey, on-the-dime poetic outbursts are an art that should be respected Jackee, check yourself privileges." You shook your fist in the air at her. "I'd like to see you attempt to come up with such beauty on the fly!" You called out, before dramatically starting to lie next to Koy. "Alas, I have been hit. My heart doth yearn for the feeling of righteousness, of... Justice," You muttered the last word, your hand held curled into a fist above yourself. "Tell my love that I miss her so, that her immaculate beauty and charm will forever hold a place in my still beating heart. That I yearn to hear her voice, the voice of an angel, just one last time. With my dying breath I beg of you this one-"

You tried to hold a straight face at the sudden laughing that cut you off, leaning up to look at the source of it. "Hey! I am in the middle of uttering my completely one hundred percent serious dying wish, with what little strength I have left! Show your respects!"

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"I gotta say, it's a lot bigger up close..." Yuu mumbled, a hand moving from her hoodie pocket to rub at the back of her head. Picking at the bottom of your tank top, you couldn't help the small smirk on your face. Even if you felt a little bad about it, you had no way of stopping the slight feeling of hope burning in your chest. Hope that she'd give up before anything bad happened.

"Yuubi there is a hundred dollars on the line, you can do this! Don't start doubting yourself now!" Libra called out, a grin on his face as he brought his hands from his own hoodie pockets to his hips. A dubious look formed on your face, as you looked up to the night sky.

Out of bad habit, you had crossed your arms. Hesitating for a moment, you started mumbling a little aimlessly. "I'm really starting to think this is a bad idea. I have a pretty strong feeling that something is going to happen..." Uncrossing your arms, your hand had automatically gone to your wrist, nervously starting to dig at the flesh with your nails. An old habit that usually calmed you down, but you subconsciously started digging a little harder when it hadn't really held the right effect. It felt like someone wasn't exactly going to get out of this fine and dandy, and you hated it.

A gloved hand gently grasped your shoulder, but you didn't need to turn around to know who it was. "I'm sure everything is going to be fine, Gray. Relax a little, enjoy yourself." Paradise tried to comfort you, and you gave a small nod in response. Turning towards her, you faked a small smile.

Everyone had been trying to scout out the best place for Yuubi to start climbing, but you had your doubts behind whether or not there'd be a climbable area in general. Nobody'd seen a single animal since entering the forest around the mountain, let alone signs that people had been here before. That should've been the first warning that something was up.

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"I have to say, this looks a lot more anticlimactic than it's made out to be." Yuubi said, a smirk on her face as she jumped out of the car. Following her, you gaped a little at the mountain as your grip on your phone tightened. You couldn't help but try and sneak a few pictures of the scene before you, filled with awe at the sights. Hues of orange and yellow shone from behind the trees, as it faded up to the twinkling night sky above.

Snapping out of your almost trance like state, you started walking with Yuu. "The plot thickens! Also, Yuu? Please don't scale this entire thing, a hundred dollars is like AT LEAST half my money. Also, please don't die." You mumbled, stopping as you rubbed at your right arm.

"I'll see what I can do!" She yelled, running towards the mountain. Going to call out to Yuu, you had started to reach out and follow after her, before stopping. Shaking your head a little, a small laugh escaped you as you let your hands fall to your sides.

"Well that was the sappiest thing I've ever experienced." You jumped a little, Jackee and Cayann emerging from behind you. Shifting your gaze between the two of them, your face started to heat up a little as you looked away and buried your face into the hood of your jacket.

"Well you're gonna be experiencing a hell of a lot more of it. I'm Canadian, we're like seventy-five percent maple syrup." You nervously shot finger guns at them, before letting out a small chortle and following after Yuu. The fading light of the sun illuminated her figure in the distance, an almost ethereal glow surrounding her as she headed towards the mountain. Hearing sudden laughter, you tore your attention back to the situation at hand.

"that was terrible!" Jackee jokingly yelled after you, the two of them laughing a little at your words. You stopped to quickly catch a glance back at them, where you found smiles on both of their faces. You could feel your heart swell with affection as you watched them, the others approaching one by one.

"This time, it'll be different. I... I don't think there's going to HAVE to be a next time..." Your breath caught in your throat, tears threatening to spill from the corners of your eyes.

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You crossed your arms, resting them on the back of Sean's chair. You could feel the excitement bubbling in your chest, a small smile resting on your face as you waited. "And the closest mountain is..." You drew out the 'is', as you all watched the loading computer screen. "Mt... Ebott...?" You uncrossed your arms, their spot on the chair being replaced with your hands. "the hell's Mt. Ebott?"

"A mountain." Cayann commented, a smug look on her face.

Ignoring her comment, you pushed yourself away from the chair and started walking to the door. "The name sounds so familiar, but I can’t place why..." You mumbled. "Whatever, let’s get this done and over with. How long is the drive there?" Grabbing your coat, you shoved your arms through the sleeves, before slipping your shoes on. You tried to ignore the slight pain that suddenly formed in your chest, but hadn't really had much success in doing so.

"Someone's feeling salty tonight," The pain grew a little in your chest. "But it says that it's a two-hour drive."

Trying to act a little happier, you faked a smile. "Alright, thanks Sean!" As everyone else scattered to get ready, you had some time to yourself.

Not caring that your smile had started to fall off your face, having already gotten lost deep in thought. You didn't understand where the sudden negative feelings had come from, but you hated that you practically just low-key snapped at your friends. You just couldn’t shake the odd feeling of almost… revulsion… at the mention of the mountain. You had never heard of it before, and yet you felt like you knew all too much about it. It almost sounded silly, but even with just staring at the pictures you could feel bad omens and dark things about it.

“Let’s go see this mountain!” Haley chirped, forcing a screech out of you.

“Jesus fucking Satan. Alive,” You seethed, a hand clutching your chest as you rested against the door. “The best part of waking up is NOT heart attacks in your cup, I swear to god y’all are going to be the death of me, dieu.”

“Gray, no, you can’t die on us!” Truc called out, walking towards the two of you. The others all soon followed, laughing and joking to another in quiet voices.

Murmuring an ‘I’m alright’ to Truc, you moved out of the way of the door “Well, let’s go then!” You called out to them. Watching everyone excitedly run through the door, you started to follow after. You hesitated for a moment, before grabbing your bag and heading to the car.

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Chapter Text

‘Why aren’t you dead? Technically at LEAST half of the group should’ve been, and considering your positioning in the group when you fell, you should be dead and under a pile of bodies. Instead you were sulking in your own thoughts. But either way, there was no way all of you would survive a fall like that. SOMETHING would have had to of gone awry, there was no way it wouldn’t. Someone might land wrong, snap a limb and die from blood loss. Someone could land on their head and snap their neck…’

You were too lost in thought to hear the faint whimpering and quiet calls for help emitting from below you.

‘…From a fall that high, the human body couldn’t physically survive. You’d flatten out like a pancake from the force of the fall. It’s not much help that you’d have a giant pile of bodies falling on top of you. The only people who COULD survive the fall might be the people on top!’

Snapping out of your thoughts, you found yourself struggling to breath properly, it having finally processed that you were probably lying on a pile of dead bodies. “Oh no. No, oh god…” You choked out, your eyes widening at the situation. You tried to scramble away from the bodies, eventually managing to get off of it. Slowly backing away, you couldn’t even fully process the sight in front of you, before you found yourself tripping over another body.

Letting out a quiet shriek, you subconsciously used your arms to protect your head. Looking at whoever you tripped on, you choked back a sob. You couldn’t be the only one alive, there was no way. Your entire body went numb, and your head started to throb.

Why YOU of all people?

“Cayann… Cayann please get up… Please…” You choked out, nudging the body under you a little as you tried to get off of her. “I… I… You… Cayann… No need to give me the cold shoulder buddy…” You mumbled, tears welling in your eyes as you tried to muster a weak smile. “Hey pal, you’re looking… You...” The smile fell from your face, along with a few tears. “I can’t do this… I can’t… You guys… Please…” You choked out, tears trailing down your cheeks.

“Is… Is anyone…” You barely heard a voice call out, sending you barreling towards the pile of bodies.

“Hello? Who… God, fuck… Thank god, I… Just keep on speaking, I….” You had to find whoever it was. You needed to.

“Gray...?” the voice murmured, and you had soon found who it belonged to.

“Yuubi, oh god.” You tried to pry the last body off of her, before trying to carry her off to the side. “Yuubi stay with me, you can’t die… You’re the only one left, I can’t… This time it was going to be different…” You mumbled. “I can go look for help Yuu please just stay with me, don’t close your eyes, please.” You fumbled over your words, choking back tears. Going to stand, your heart ached when Yuubi grabbed onto the corner of your jacket.

“Don’t go, Gray…” She mumbled, a faint smile on her face. You tried to help her sit up, silently praying to yourself. “So much for not dying…” She had tried to laugh at her comment, but was met with a coughing fit instead. Looking over at you, her eyes glossy and a faint smile across her lips, you finally noticed there was blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth.
You eventually managed to get her on your back, wrapping your arms around her legs before blindly walking away with your dying friend. You had to get help fast, you couldn’t loose the only one you had left. “Is anyone there? Please, I can’t loose my friend… She’s dying, and I… Someone, please!” You fumbled, trying to move as fast as you could.

You couldn’t remember how long you’d been walking for before you heard Yuubi speak up again. “Gray, it’s alright…” You could feel their weight sink into you a bit more.

“Yuubi please stay awake, you can’t… We still…” You were frantic now, you couldn’t do this alone. You couldn’t live the rest of your life knowing you couldn’t save them.

“My children, are you alright?” You hadn’t realized you had clenched your eyes shut until you heard a voice call out to you.

All you could do was mutter out a quiet ‘please’, as you squeezed your eyes tighter together. Eventually you felt the weight you were carrying disappear, forcing you to open your eyes. You were shocked to find a goat-like woman standing in front of you, holding the dead body in her arms.

No. Yuubi’s. It was Yuubi’s body. It wasn’t right to refer to her as “the dead body”. She was a friend, not some stranger you found dead on the side of the road.

“My child, please breathe, it will be alright. Though I do not quite know what has happened, I can assure you that I will do my best to save your friend.” Letting out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, you felt yourself start to go limp. At least you managed to save one person, wasn’t that good enough?

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“My child, please!” You were startled awake by the sound of the woman from earlier, a hint of frustration in her voice that you never thought you’d hear. You couldn’t help but tense up at her tone, but had slowly tried to sit up. “I hope I did not startle you, but I wish to know what happened.” Her voice was much softer now, although you hadn’t calmed down. There was a pile of your friend’s dead bodies out there, how were you supposed to tell this woman that?

“I… How long was I out for…?” You muttered, your voice hoarse and your head still throbbing.

“I couldn’t tell you, my child. It was not for very long though, rest assured.” Hearing what she said, you couldn’t help but laugh a little. You were relieved to hear that you weren’t out for very long, but whether it was intentional or not, it was still funny to hear the pun.

“My child, what are you laughing about?” She asked, before pausing and lightly laughing herself. “Ah, I didn’t even realize, my dear.”

“I guess you really knocked yourself out with that one.” It wasn’t the best you could do, but at the moment you couldn’t really think of a better pun. It still had seemed to work, considering that the woman had broken down into a small giggling fit.

“That pun really seemed to,” You paused for dramatic effect, waiting for the woman to take in a breath before continuing. “get your goat.” You hoped that wouldn’t be considered rude, and were quickly relieved when the lady broke into another fit of giggles.

Eventually calming herself down, she looked over to you with a warm smile. “My child, I commend you, truly. Not long ago you were carrying a dying friend in your arms, and yet now you are laughing and joking like nothing bad ever happened. You truly are an interesting human, my dear.” Standing from the chair she was sitting in, she offered you her hand. “If you are feeling well enough, I have something I wish to show you.”

Nodding your head slightly, you hesitated for a moment before taking her hand and sliding off of the bed. Leading out of the room, she paused in front of the room you two had just left from. “I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. I will do my best to protect you, for what it’s worth. I do hope you hadn’t minded, but you had been resting in my own room. I felt that the other bed might have been too small for you to rest comfortably.” Toriel explained, a warm smile resting on her face.

“I… It’s alright, really. Thank you, Toriel.” You mumbled, looking up to her with what you hoped was just as warm of a smile. “I uh... My… You can call me Gray.” You fumbled over your words, jumping a little when you felt her hand rest on your shoulder.

“Gray, my dear, it is so nice to have met you.”

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Toriel had showed you around her home, hand in hand as the two of you shared a few jokes over the smaller things. At one point she had asked you to close your eyes, having a surprise she wanted to show you. Having hesitantly done as she asked, Toriel had guided you carefully before the two of you had abruptly stopped.

At a lazy blow of the wind, your grip on her hand subconsciously tightened. “My dear, you may open your eyes now.”

Doing as she said, you found yourself gaping in awe at the sights. The two of you were standing on a small platform, in front of you was a view of dozens of buildings. They were all faintly aglow, bathed in a faint purple light. You could barely describe the view, but who could blame you?

It was amazing. Beautiful, brilliant. Astounding. Breathtaking. There were too many words to describe how you were just completely brimming in pure awe.

Hearing Toriel start to speak again, you started to focus on her words. “You know, Gray? I couldn’t really place it at first, but you remind me of someone I know,” She let out a small giggle before continuing to speak “Or at least, I like to think I know them. We have yet to speak face to face. But I like to think the point still stands, wouldn’t you agree?”

It took a little for you to respond, but you slowly have her a nod.

“You both seem to enjoy telling jokes and hearing the laughs of others, but there is another similar part to the both of you that I can not yet place.”

That certainly piqued your interest. “What do you mean? Could you possibly tell me more about them?” You cautiously asked her, a curious expression plastered on your face.

“Ah, there really isn’t much to tell. I had been scouting through the ruins as I always do, when one day I hear a faint knocking coming from a door. Asking who was there, it took a while before the stranger replied with something odd.” Toriel seemed to have a fond look spread over her expression as she told the tale.

“…Did they respond with a joke?” You asked, a smirk spreading across your face.

She nodded, her smile widening. “Believe it or not, he responded with 'dishes'. I hadn’t expected the response, let alone a response in general. After them not getting a response they piped up with ‘uh, this is the part where you say dishes who.’" She had laughed a little, before she continued her story.

‘Of course, I did what the mysterious voice told me to do. I asked, ‘Dishes who?’. And," she snorted, putting a hand over her mouth in an attempt to contain her laughter. ‘He said, ‘Dishes a very bad joke,’ and it was, shall we say, a good ice-breaker?" You both laughed a little at the story, before a thought crossed your mind.

Why did she say ice-breaker as if it were a pun?

Shrugging the thoughts out of your mind, Toriel’s features suddenly turned grim. “Alas my dear, as much as I enjoyed our time spent together I have one last thing to show you.”

You had only noticed you were no longer holding her hand when she had slipped it back in yours, her grip tighter then before. Leading you back to her home, the walk was quiet and somber. Taking a quick right to the bedrooms, she walked to the end of the hall. You hadn’t even noticed the third door before, let alone that the hallway continued past her bedroom.

“Gray, my dear…” Toriel moved her hand from wrapped around yours to resting on your shoulder. “This is… Your friend lies in this room. I do not know if they will wake up. It was a miracle they survived as long as they did.” She murmured.

This couldn’t be happening. N o. N o. N o n o n o no no no no nonononono. You tried. You tried to save the last of your friends and… You couldn’t even save one person. You were a wreck, a flop. You weren’t reliable, or trustworthy. You fucked up this one thing. You couldn’t even save one person, so why should you be the one to deserve to live? You were sure that anyone else would’ve been able to help you.

Bringing your hand to your mouth, you felt tears slide down your cheeks.

You were useless, a failure.

Time seemed to slow as you leaned your started to lean your weight into Toriel.

How could anyone trust you, knowing you couldn’t even save a single soul?

You wrapped your arms around her, choking out sobs.

Yuubi wasn’t going to make it because you were so idiotic. They were relying on you and you failed them. You were a slob. You didn’t deserve to be here.

You wished you could let someone else live, instead of yourself. Someone who deserved it.

Chapter Text

“I wish I had never met you.” You could feel your heart break at the comment, your arms almost giving out behind you as a sickening grin spread over your friend’s face. You couldn’t bring yourself to try and scoot away from her, despite how badly you wanted to. It was almost as if part of you still wanted to hear what she had to say.

“You killed us Gray,” Truc’s body continued to crawl towards you, a Cheshire grin on her face as blood dribbled down her chin. Your arms gave out behind you as she pulled herself on top of you, her glossy black eyes meeting your own. Tears stung the corner of your eyes as your elbows caught the fall, scraping against the ground. You watched, shock and fear keeping you frozen on the ground as her bloody hand reached towards your neck.

“Now you get to burn in hell.” You could feel her nails digging into your throat, the flesh making a faint squelching noise as it separated from the bone.
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You woke up struggling to breathe, your own hands clawing at your throat. Your chest and neck felt raw, your hands clammy and cold in comparison.

It was just a dream. You are okay. They didn’t suffer. You couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Rubbing at your cheeks, you noticed the wetness on your hands. Were you crying?

That’s a lie, you could’ve saved Yuubi.

Taking a shaky breath and forcing yourself out of bed, you started blindly walking through the home.

You had been going through the same repetitive process for what you assumed was a few days at this point. Laze around the tree in front of Toriel’s home, talk to some of the froggits that might happen to pass by, help and visit with Toriel, sleep, wake up from nightmares, rinse, repeat. It was tiring, to say the least. Once or twice you’d think that you’d see something yellow flash in the corner of your eye, and then go to help out Toriel a little earlier out of slight paranoia. One time you had found a spider crawling on your pant leg, and you ended up breaking into hysterics trying to get it off.

Rubbing the tears away from your eyes, you found yourself knocking on Toriel’s bedroom door. A groggy voice responded on the other end, clearly having been woken up by the knocking. “Another nightmare, my dear?” She called out, concern clear in her voice.

“Tori, I’m…” You couldn’t bring yourself to finish your sentence, and yet you still found Toriel soon wrapping you into a soothing embrace. “Toriel I don’t know if I…” As you tried to speak, you hesitantly wrapped your arms around her as well.

“Would you like to talk about it, my child?” Giving a faint nod, she had lead you over to her bed. After sitting you down, she grabbed a spare blanket and wrapped it around you.

“There’s… There’s something you should know first…” You sniffled, rubbing at your eyes again. “We weren’t the only ones to fall… I had…” You paused, clearing your throat. “I had a lot of my friends that fell with me and Yuubi… I don’t think they made it…” You choked out, Toriel’s hand wrapped around your own.

“Oh, my dear… I’m so sorry to hear that…” She mumbled, worry etched across her face.

“It was a stupid decision we made… Got lost on the mountain, ended up falling down a hole and down here… I woke up lying on a pile of my friends. I faintly heard Yuubi calling for help, got her out of the pile and to you. I thought I had saved her Tori. I thought that I at least helped someone.” More tears rolled down your cheeks as you explained everything to her. You told her who everyone was, what kind of people they were like.

How they seemed to be able to always help you out and make you feel better, even though you could never really seem to help them.

How they saved your life and you couldn’t even manage to do the same in return.

“Gray, my dear, please breathe,” Toriel quietly reminded you, her hands still tightly grasping your own. “Would you like me to look for you? I know you probably would not wish to see them in the state they must be in...”

“If I… If I am feeling good enough I might want to... It might help with the nightmares…” You fumbled over your words, taking in shaky breaths.

“But dear, I must tell you that I truly doubt that you didn’t help them in any way,” She commented, before pulling you into a quick hug. “Could I tell you a story?” She asked, pulling away from you.

Nodding your head, the woman took a minute to prepare herself before starting to speak.

Toriel had told you a story about two children, a Prince and an orphaned Princette, who had been tied to each other’s hips for their entire childhood. They were always with the other, until a grave turn of events had taken place. One day the Princette had grown very sick, their last dying wish was to see the flowers grown in their home village. The child had died a few days later, never getting their wish fulfilled. The Prince was infuriated, taking their fallen sibling’s body to the village and resting it on the flowers. Thinking the boy had killed the other child, the village attacked him.

Eventually he returned to his home, bloody and scraped up, death looming not far behind. It didn’t take long for the boy to pass away as well, not being able to find his own will and strength once the other passed.

Toriel finished off her story, a more somber expression on her face. At some point your eyelids started to droop, and you could feel yourself starting to get heavier with sleep. “My dear, Gray, do you know why I told you this story?”

Shaking your head, you mumbled out a no. “Because, my dear, I promise not to let that happen to you and your friend. I will do my best to help you. I will try and make sure you all live your lives to the fullest.”

You couldn’t muster a response in time before you felt yourself get lulled into a dreamless sleep.

It was comforting knowing Toriel’d always be there for you.
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You woke up feeling more refreshed then you’d been since you fell. Sitting up, you cracked your back, before slowly sliding out of bed. Bones cracked and popped as you walked out of the room, sliding your sweater over your head. It was a grey wool knit sweater that, luckily, didn’t stick to your body like you were in a women’s advertisement. Shots. Fired.

As it turned out, grabbing your bag had been a smart idea. Since you had a few articles of clothing, as well as other various things, it was nice that you weren’t left with just the clothing you fell in.

Walking towards the other side of the house, you dropped your bag on the table before entering the kitchen. To your surprise, there was what looked like a quiche sitting on the countertop. A note beside it read ‘Gray, please feel free to take as much as you would like. I hope it tastes alright! I will be out for a while, so do not worry about me. –Toriel’

You were curious, but had went ahead and cut yourself a piece. Considering it was still a little too warm for you to eat, you had grabbed a cloth from one of the drawers and wrapped it around the food. Taking the note and sliding it into your pocket, you also grabbed a chocolate bar from the fridge before returning to the other room.

Putting the food down on the table, you grabbed a few seemingly interesting books from the bookshelf. Putting everything in your bag, you slid the strap onto your shoulder and started heading for the front door. You stopped yourself suddenly, hand tightly wrapped around the doorknob as you thought about the strange staircase.

“Just a peek couldn’t hurt, right?” You mumbled to yourself, walking over to the stairs. Hesitating for a minute, you quietly padded down each step. Surprised to have been met with a small hallway, you slowly walked down the purple hued corridor. Taking a left at the end, you paused for a minute. It was a little intimidating that you couldn’t see the end of the hallway, and it looked like it went for quite a while, but that didn’t deter you from checking. Either way, you could turn back if it didn’t seem to lead anywhere, right?

As you walked the air around you seemed to grow cooler, the pads of your feet feeling the change of temperature the most. You probably should’ve put on shoes, but it wasn’t anything you weren’t used to.

Suddenly hitting the end of the hall, you were a little surprised to find a large door. There was a small draft of cool air blowing from beneath it, and you noticed that the same deign on Toriel’s dress was engraved into the door. Sitting near the stone door, a hum of approval escaped you at the cooler temperature. You had found that Toriel’s home had been a bit warm to your liking, so you appreciated the change.

Taking out the slice of quiche, you set it beside you before pulling out one of the books from your bag.
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You had read most of the book, until you couldn’t manage to force yourself into reading more. For a while, you settled on making origami dragons and flowers, before yet again growing bored. Eventually you settled for trying to write something.

“But that logically wouldn’t make sense… What if-“ You were cut off from your thoughts by a sudden voice.

“Hey kid, you sound like you need to cool it a tad, no need to work yourself down to the bone.” You couldn’t help but let out a screech, scrambling away from the door. “Woah there, you might actually hit your funny bone if you aren’t careful, and that wouldn’t be too humerus.”

“Were those puns?” You managed to choke out, inching back towards the door. “If so, that wasn’t very punny.” You mumbled, gently picking up the pieces of paper that had gotten strewn about. Fitting everything into your bag, you slung the strap over your shoulder before hesitantly sitting back up against the door.

It took a while for the voice to respond, an almost challenging tone to their voice. “That’s a shame, most people find my puns to be pretty rib tickling.”

Oh, this was most definitely happening. “I can say I’ve metacarpal people who can dish out shitty puns, but I’ve got a skeleton of them up my own sleeve.”

”Tibia honest those puns weren’t the best.”

“Don’t tell a fibula, they were amazing.”

“No need to skullk over it.”

“Please, patella me more things I don’t know.”

“Buddy do you got a bone to pick with me?”

“Can’t help it, I’m feelin’ real bonely over here.” You stopped for a second, before muttering a swear. Already used that pun.

“Why don’t you come out here then?”

Oh.

Oh you weren’t expecting that. You hesitated for a moment, trying to find the right words. “I uh…” You couldn’t leave, you didn’t even know if Toriel would let you back in! “I don’t know, there’s too many things that I’m waiting for… I don’t think Tori’d appreciate me leaving either. Plus, I can’t just abandon my friends.” You mumbled, adding on a quiet “If they are still alive…”

“’T was worth a try, but you seem as stubborn about it as ‘Tori’ is.” You could hear the hesitation in their voice as they said Toriel’s nickname, getting a small laugh out of you. “You act pretty similar in some ways though. You both enjoy puns, you’re a little more competitive about it though, as well as that you both seem pretty caring when it comes to others.”

“Wait, do you not know her name?” You couldn’t help but softly laugh, amused by the idea. Suddenly though, you cut yourself short, gently smacking the floor. “Holy fuck it all makes sense though.”

“What does?”

“Tori already told me about you, apparently she thinks I act a lot like you or something? Her names Toriel by the way, but that totally makes sense now. Also your sense of humour is shit and I love it.” Realizing what you said, you clasped the both of your hands over your mouth. You weren’t sure which was worse, that you just started rambling in front of a stranger or what you actually said. Mumbling out an almost inaudible ‘oh fuck’, you just sat through the silence and waited for a response.

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding when you heard the person start to laugh. “You sound like you just told me you committed mass genocide.” You both continued to talk for a little while, you being a little more hesitant, when you could’ve sworn you heard someone call your name.

Fuck.

Scrambling to stand up, you fumbled with your bag as you stuttered out apologies. You had completely forgotten about Toriel. Apologizing once more for good measure, you told them that you’d probably come back soon before dashing back towards the stairs. Trying to scale them as quickly and quietly as possible, you barely had time to react before running straight into Toriel.

“My dear, what were you doing downstairs?”

The only words you could form were repetitive apologies.

Chapter Text

“Why are you apologizing, Gray, my child..?”

“I’m-” You paused for a minute, letting yourself actually process what she said. “You… Aren’t mad..?”

“I was frightened at best Gray, you do not need to worry. I checked on your friends though, I thought that you would have liked to know.” She backed up, grabbing your hand in hers.

“Are they okay? Are any of them alive?” You couldn’t help but ask question after question about them, a small smile on the monster’s face as she brought you over to the spare room. You remembered how she told you that it was where Yuubi’s body lied. You weren’t sure if you were ready to see that, but you had to. You had to see.

“Some of them are still alive, about four of them i think, but they will not wake up.” She told you, opening the door with slight hesitation. The room seemed to mirror Toriel’s, except for the obvious bodies lying around the room. You could automatically tell who a few of them were, Cayann being the easiest one to spot. “So these are… I’m guessing they are the people still alive..?”

Toriel nodded, watching you as you went from person to person, seeing who they were before checking their pulse. Koy was fine… Jackee was alright… Cayann was alive… Paradise still had a pulse…

You froze when you got to the next body. Yuubi. You could hear Toriel shifting awkwardly in the doorway, and you hesitated before checking her pulse with shaking hands.

She was still alive. You could feel yourself relax over it, a slow breath escaping your lips.

Clearing her throat, your attention shifted over to Toriel as she reached into pockets you didn’t know she had “I thought you might want these. All of the ones who.... Didn’t make it… were wearing these. I thought you might’ve wanted them.”

You were a little confused when she handed you four crystal necklaces, each shining and glimmering like they were alive. Asking Toriel about it, you figured out which necklace belonged to each friend.

The one that stood out the most was what you thought to be Truc’s. It was a golden chained necklace, with a decent sized amber attached by a golden wire wrapped around the base. Holding it up to the room’s light source, the gem seemed to almost glow. Stealing a glance over at Toriel, you slipped the necklace around your neck.

The others all varied in colour, shape, and size, each sparkling with a strange sense of familiarity. There were a green, blue, and purple one, and you hesitated for a moment before putting them around your neck as well. “Thank you, really. It means a lot.”

“I’m…” She paused for a moment, as if to collect her thoughts. “I’m not sure what you mean my child?”

“Most people would usually just shrug it off, since they don’t see the benefit in helping. Even if the person in need could die, most people just kind of pass by and pretend not to notice.” Grabbing at your wrist, you spoke in a wavering voice.

“Ah, well i am glad i could help you and your friends then. I’m sure you’d like some privacy, so I’ll just leave you be for a little while. Would that be alright?” Nodding, she escorted herself out of the room.

You personally didn’t spend much longer in the room, not really having much more to do. You had mumbled a few parting words, even if they probably fell among deaf ears.
________________

You couldn’t stay. As much as it broke your heart, you just…

You had to move on.

You had written individual notes for everyone. That’s what you had been spending most of your time doing. You had a note for everyone in the one spare room, Toriel, and even some of the monsters that you had spent most of your time with.

You had been hesitant at first, but finally decided that you should just get it over with. You spent the beginning of the day with Toriel, until she had to go out. First you had slipped into the spare room, and slipped the notes into the hand of their respective addressee.

Next, you had placed Tauriel’s note on the table in her living room, where you knew she’d find it. You honestly hoped she would understand.

The hardest to place were the few addressed to the smaller monsters. It took you a while, but you eventually placed them by the tree out front before jogging back inside.

After making sure all your notes were in place, you grabbed your bag, and started the hike to the large door downstairs.

“I forgot to actually put on my shoes…”

“Again.”
________________

You didn’t know how you were actually going to open the door. At some point during the walk you had started crying, and you couldn’t stop yourself from shaking. As you approached the door, your breaths got more erratic and shallow, and you had to take multiple pauses to keep yourself from breaking down more than you already were.

You could try pushing it open, but it wouldn’t be that simple, would it?

Wiping at your cheek, you fumbled towards the door and gave it as best a shove as you could really manage. To your surprise it had creaked open to let in a gust of cold air and a bit of snow. You were going to regret not putting on your jacket.

“I don’t know if I can handle finally getting to meet you.”

“I left them.”

Chapter Text

“Woah, hey, kid, are you alright?”

“She just wanted the best for me, and…” You staggered forward a little, your mind not completely processing that you had sort of fallen on the other person. “And i just left her.” You choked out, a vague feeling of an arm hesitantly wrapping around you for support. “I left them all, and for what?” You were on the brink of hysterics, tears running down your cheeks as you tried to calm your breathing.

“Hey, kid, s’okay. You’re okay.” The person calmly spoke to you, snapping you out of your almost paralyzed-like state. You don’t remember closing your eyes, but you couldn’t bring yourself to open them just yet. “Here, I’m gonna bring you somewhere to sit down, okay?” Attempting to nod your head, you subconsciously grasped at one of their hands.

You were a little confused at the sudden lack of feeling around you, considering the cooler breeze that had been gently blowing against you a second ago. Suddenly, when everything seemed to form around you again, you felt the need to vomit. As least now you could bet your ass that your eyes were open, and wildly looking at your surroundings.

You caught a bunch of trees, some snow falling around you. Your breaths seemed to falter a little and slow at the idea. “Hey, d’ya think you can try looking at me..?” The person asked again, and you had dragged your attention away from the snow and trees to look at them.

You were staring at a skeleton.

Screeching, you dropped their hand and tried to back away a little. However, since you were apparently sitting on a stool, the furthest you could get was almost falling over. Almost. “Shit, hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you, okay?” Sucking in deep breaths, you turned to look at them again before slowly nodding. You could hear them mutter under their breath something about ‘forgetting that part’, which confused you, but you shrugged it off.

“Wha-at‘s your n-name..?” You choked out, wiping away a few remaining tears from your face. The question seemed to surprise them, although they were quick to respond.

“Ah, uh, Sans. Sans the skeleton. What’s yours?” Their voice had seemed to have quieted down a little, the tone of his voice changing from being frantic and panicked to a bit more at ease.

“G-Gray.” You mumbled, going over the name a few times in your head.

“Well its grayt to meet you.” You smiled a little, doing your best to bring your knees up to your chest and hold onto your toes.

Glancing back out towards the trees, you fumbled with a response. ”sansational.”

You could feel a small smile form on your face as your breaths slowed.

“That pun really blue me away.”

”Ice to know.”

”Snow need to give me the cold shoulder.”

“Sorry… I’ll try to snowflake off… more attention towards you...” You mumbled, trying to keep yourself focused and listening. It seemed so much easier to just kind of tune everything out, and to listen to that small voice in your head telling you that you should have stayed. That it would’ve been so much easier to just stay behind, and that you can’t even be trusted with that simple of a task.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay, remember?” The person, no, Sans suddenly commented, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Deep breaths, stay calm.”

Nodding, you slowly tore your eyes away from the trees to look at him again. Them? Him? Shrugging a little to yourself, you decided that you could probably ask later.

“Nothing bad’s gonna happen to you, okay?” “HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET, BROTHER?”

What.

“Hey uh, no panic but…”Grabbing your arm, he gave a small tug for what you assumed was to get you to stand up. “Shit, uhhhh…”

“SANS YOU BETTER NOT BE SLEEPING AGAIN.” You would’ve laughed at that if you weren’t currently scared for your life.

“Nah bro, I’m awake.” He called out, before glancing over at you. Freezing, he glanced behind you quickly before giving you a small push backwards.

Turning around, you noticed a group of what looked like about four or five smaller spruce trees. Rushing over to them, you practically dove at them just as the other person seemed to arrive.

You weren’t sure which was currently shittier. The fact that you are now lying in very cold snow, or the fact that you basically ate a branch when you fell. You might be Canadian, but that didn't mean you lied in the snow and ate coniferous trees during your free time.

“I HAVEN’T FOUND A SINGLE HUMAN YET, BUT I CAN FEEL IT! TODAY WILL BE THE DAY I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN, AND I WILL FINALLY JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!” Finally pushing yourself up, you tried to crawl away as quietly as you could from the two.

“Oh yeah, bro? I guess we’ll really need to work ourselves down to the bone today.” A small laugh escaped you, causing you to slap your hand over your mouth.

“SAAANS, DO NOT RUIN THIS DAY FOR ME WITH YOUR PUNS!” You heard someone, most likely Sans, chuckle.

“Alright Papy. Why don’t you go continue searching for a human, make sure they don’t manage to sneak past us? Wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

“NO, WE WOULD NOT BROTHER. NOW I-”

Maybe you could crawl on your hands and knees and it would work better...

Snap.

“Uhhh…” “WHAT WAS THAT?”

No, you didn’t just get stabbed in the face by a branch, and you most definitely did not let out the most ungodly scream you’d ever mustered in your entire life.

Okay, maybe that is absolutely what happened.

“SANS WHAT WAS THAT?”

“Uhh, not sure?”

Well, goodbye life. It was nice while it lasted, right? At least you get to die happy. Oh so happy, hiding under a group of trees as your cheek bleeds out onto the snow below you.

Maybe if you put snow on the cut it would help numb the pain..?

Fuck my life. Fuck everything, that was not the definition of helping.

“Hey bro, why don’t you go get back to watching everything? I’ll see what happened and let you know. K?”

“I DON’T KNOW, WHAT IF THEY ARE INJURED? YOU KNOW YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN THE HANG OF YOUR HEALING MAGIC QUITE YET!”

“I’ll be sure to get you if it’s bad enough? Alright?”

Someone let out a hesitant sigh. “ALRIGHT. DO YOU PROMISE BROTHER?”

“Promise.”

You could faintly hear them, you think Sans had referred to them as Papy, walk away before your name was being called.

“Ki- uh, Gray? You alright?”

“Yeah, just you know. Casually stabbed myself in the face. As you do.” Attempting to get back up, you decided to use an arm to shield your face this time.

“Eye don’t see the appeal.”

Standing up, you wandered back over to where Sans was sitting down. “They said you had healing magic?”

“Papyrus? Yeah, he’s teaching me.”

Nodding your head, you glanced at the stand you had been sitting at earlier. It looked like it might be a hot dog stand, by the several condiments resting inside it, but at the same time it could’ve been a sentry station due to what ‘Papyrus’ had said earlier. Shrugging a little, you decided to go with the latter of the two.

“D’you think you could look at my cut?”

“Uuhhh, what do you mean?”

“I didn’t realize I’d need to explain that… You know, just like make sure there isn’t anything in it? Make sure it can’t get infected?” You raised a brow, looking back at him. “Do you care if I sit on this?” Giving a general hand motion towards the stand, you waited for him to shake his head before pushing yourself up on it’s surface.

“Ya know I could probably get Papy to heal this, right?”

“Really? I thought I was shoved into a tree for a reason.” Leaning down a little, you tried to sit as still as you could as he examined the wound. “Besides, if you’re gonna insist on someone healing it then why not heal it yourself...?”

“It’s not gonna heal very well if I do it, and there’s a pretty big chance it’ll scar.” He mumbled. You winced a little when he pushed at the cut a certain way, but otherwise weren’t really bothered. “How did you even do this?”

“One time I cut myself on a plastic bag.”

“Point taken.”

Once he finished examining the cut, you lifted your hands up to examine the backs of them. Turning them around, you waggled your fingers as you spoke. “It’d just be another to add to the collection. Not the worst that I’ve gotten either.”

“Okay, cool it there pal. No need to cut yourself on all that edge.”

“My name is Edgelord Mc-My Chemical Romance, thank you very much.”

“Alright, alright, Edgelord. Sit still.”

Nodding your head a little, you bent back down so he could heal your cheek. “So what are all your other scars from?”

Fidgeting a little, you grabbed at your wrist. “Does it matter?”

“I guess not.”

A strange tingling sensation pooled around your cheek, causing you to bite at your lip. “So besides the fact that I’m like, seventy-five percent sure your brother wants to like, kill me or something, he seems pretty cool.”

It caught you a little off guard to hear him start laughing at your comment. Confusion must have been clear on your face, though, since he was quick to explain. “Paps wouldn’t hurt a fly, but I know the person you’d be going to would probably do so without a second thought. That’s why I panicked and got you to hide.”

“Oh. Thanks then, I think?” Seeing as Sans appeared to be finished healing your cut, you slid back onto the ground as he stood up as well. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

“You are so small, this is beautiful. I can feel the tears forming, this is precious. You are so precious.”

“So about your cut.” Crossing his arms, an almost annoyed look somehow crossed over his face.

“Your shortness has cured me. I feel blessed.” It must be illegal to be that small. “You literally look adorable.” You started giggling a little to yourself, watching him stand up and slowly walk away.

“I’m leaving.”

“No wait, please, I’ll stop.” Shoving your hands in your pockets, you followed after him.

“Seems you’re really givin’ me the short end of the stick here, Pal.” Sans had stopped walking, and turned around to face you.

“I’d never dream of it.” Coughing a little, a shiver ran through you. You really wished that you hadn’t left your damn coat in the ruins. “Earlier, when i came out of the ruins, you did something really weird..? I dunno what it was, had my eyes closed, but like… It felt like everything just kind of stopped existing?”

“Yeah, I have that kind of affect on people.”

“Uh, what?” Squinting at him, you took your hands out of your pockets to cross your arms.

“Nothing.”

“Anyways, should we tell your brother about me or like?”

“BROTHER IS THAT A HUMAN?”